Pascoite gets bored and reviews anime, vol. 15 · 12:38am Aug 26th, 2021
Finally (almost) recovered from my business trip that I stretched into a vacation, but I'm still suffering jet lag two days later. Oh well, the Labor Day holiday is coming up, so I'll sleep then. Featured items this time are Michiko & Hatchin and Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit, plus the usual shorter reviews of other things in this neighborhood of the alphabet, after the break.
Michiko & Hatchin does a good job of making compelling characters out of what frankly are pretty annoying people, but part of it is that this is a series pretty well grounded in realism. There are lots of people in similar situations in their own lives, though not necessarily to this exaggerated degree.
Michiko starts out in prison but soon escapes, and she has a romanticized idea of tracking down her daughter and the girl's father. She does find her daughter, whose real name is Hannah, but Michiko calls her Hatchin, and verifies the girl's identity because of the same stomach tattoo they share. This does end up rescuing Hatchin from a bad foster home situation she was in (the couple's biological children basically make her their slave, and the parents naturally side with them). Now, not only is the law after Michiko for her prison break, but the couple want their serving girl back, so she's also wanted on charges of kidnapping.
Michiko had only ever lived the life of a street thug, so she doesn't know anything else, and Hatchin serves as an interesting voice of reason, which is the only positive trait she picked up from her foster family. Michiko mostly follows whatever rumors she digs up to track down the father, but they also end up running into plenty of his old associates and rivals, which makes for some tight escapes. One of the cops chasing Michiko was a childhood acquaintance, and she's one of those "tough but a heart of gold" types who looks the other way occasionally. Then there's the father's old partner in running the gang, who feels like Michiko ruined him, so he's on the same quest but wants to sabotage Michiko, if not kill her.
Of course Michiko is going to behave irresponsibly nearly all the time, which leaves Hatchin on her own for several extended periods, even spending one of those with a circus group, and she seriously considers staying with them. Though in the end, she can't break from her family.
Though there are plenty of action scenes and chases, it's not an action plot, more of a character study. Along those lines, I really enjoyed the series, but I found the ending disappointing. They keep it up in the air for most of the run whether the father is even alive, and while there is a reunion of sorts at the end, it didn't really come to a conclusion. It just kind of petered out. While the whole thing smacks of the kind of story that would have Hatchin breaking out of that rut and making something of her life, that doesn't happen. We do get a time skip, and while she's not living a life of crime, Hatchin's still not significantly better off than the life she had with Michiko. At least that does play with the theme of stark realism, but I could buy that more from a slice of life series than one that seems to be gritty for the purpose of delivering a message. It left the end feeling too noncommittal for my tastes, but I enjoyed the journey getting there. Art and music were both pretty good.
Rating: very good.
22 episodes, relevant genres: action, adventure, crime.
Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit was a series I found more compelling for the artistry of it than the story. The storyboarding, the music, the voice acting all impressed me very much even though the plot was mostly on the vague side.
Balsa is a renowned wandering warrior and spear wielder, and when she saves a boy from drowning in a river, she learns that he is nobility, Prince Chagum, and returns him to his family. However, he was in the river for a reason, and soon after thanking Balsa, the mother has a private conversation with her in which she tries to hire Balsa to assassinate him. There's evidence that Chagum is infused with a powerful water spirit, and the family believes that letting him mature will lead to their downfall. Instead, she smuggles the boy out and pledges to protect him.
Through her travels, Balsa has long since been well acquainted with all the out-of-the-way places, so she knows the best hiding spots, though of course the emperor sends out assassins to kill Chagum, and Balsa is now a target as well. They almost succeed, leaving Balsa badly wounded, but Chagum manages to follow her directions to find help.
A lot of the rest covers their attempts to hide and their narrow escapes, but the nature of the water spirit is gradually revealed: Chagum actually possesses the egg of a water spirit, not the spirit itself. Either way, it's seen as a sign that the land will suffer a terrible drought. Their hiding actually spans a long time—Balsa buys a place for them to live, and they set up a business over the course of about half a year.
Living among the common folk is obviously a rude awakening for a former prince, but he eventually takes to it, and he actually tries to help as many as he can without being recognized. The legend about the water spirit turns out to be inaccurate in several ways, some to Chagum's benefit and some against. Then as more time passes, he starts to behave more oddly due to the water spirit's influence, and he's basically caught between a rock and a hard place as to what'll happen to him if he does or doesn't go through with letting it hatch. At least circumstances have changed so his parents now believe it's more advantageous to have him alive.
It's not a stretch to say they'll find a way to work everything out, but this kind of supernatural stuff doesn't always land with me. It was decent enough, but the whole aesthetic and the care put into the quality of it all won me over.
Rating: very good.
Seirei no Moribito, 26 episodes, relevant genres: drama, adventure, fantasy
Pass the side dishes.
MÄR (102 episodes)—the title is a sort-of acronym for "Märchen Awakens Romance." A boy named Ginta is transported to a world he's only seen in his dreams and some of his mother's books. In this world, he's abnormally strong, and people try to collect powerful talismans called ÄRM. A witch named Dorothy tries to team up with him, but he also soon finds out there's a shadow organization of chess pieces trying to take over, and then... that's all I got. Toonami ran out of what few episodes they had, never got any more, and the series didn't interest me enough to pursue it on my own. I don't know how many of the 102 episodes I saw, but probably only a dozen or two. It's just a pretty generic isekai, and one leaning on wish fulfillment a bit more than most. Rating: decent, relevant genres: isekai, fantasy, adventure.
MD Geist (Sokihei M.D. Gaisuto, OVA)—the MD is supposed to stand for "Most Dangerous." Yeah. This does not bode well. The main character is the last survivor of a series of genetically engineered soldiers. He later awakens, joins a group of bandits, gets hired as a band of mercenaries to help protect a military installation run by his former superior officer to keep a doomsday device from going off, which was triggered by the assassination of a president and will kill everyone on the planet because reasons. Geist gets double crossed, and so sets off the device deliberately because reasons. This was terrible. Thank goodness it was only 45 minutes long. Rating: yuck, relevant genres: action, adventure.
Metropolis (movie)—another case of androids becoming common in society, and humans becoming bitter about losing their livelihoods to them. It's obvious to draw parallels with the more famous movie of the same name, and while the manga had only the barest inspiration from it, more deliberate references are brought into the anime. The de facto ruler of the city has constructed a building he says will allow the city to dominate the whole planet, but he's also secretly funded the construction of a robot to replace his late daughter, even as his adopted son Rock leads a military force charged with quashing robot uprisings. An investigator and his assistant arrive to take a rogue scientist into custody, and he just so happens to be the one building this robot girl, Tima. In the process, the assistant, Kenichi, and Tima end up lost in the lower levels of the city, and neither one of them realizes she's a robot. Rock does, however, leading him to confront both Tima and his father over it, and while dodging him, Kenichi and Tima become close friends. That is, until she gets corrupted, and Kenichi has to find a way to save her. If he can. I don't actually remember this one very well, other than it being pretty good on atmosphere and having a nice kind of quiet, hopeful ending. It does kind of have that epic scope feel to it, like movies of the original's era did. That's the element that stuck with me most, and I don't remember thinking it was a standout, but it's done very well with critics. So YMMV. Rating: decent, relevant genres: action, sci-fi, drama.
Millennium Actress (Sennen Joyu, movie)—this is the first of the Satoshi Kon-directed things I've reviewed, I think. There will be more. He repeatedly tackles stories that feature a blending of fantasy and reality, to the point the characters, audience, or both can't tell which is which. I appreciate that kind of thing, but I also appreciate the kind of animation he always uses. So many series are supposed to take place in Japan, but the characters don't look Japanese. While some of Kon's characters are definitely caricatures, even they really do look Japanese, and I think that can add to realism. Anyway, an interviewer and his cameraman show up to make a documentary about the reclusive actress who was the biggest star of a once-major film studio that's just gone out of business. They give her a key found in the building's rubble, which they think is something meaningful to her. Of course it will be, but I don't care to spoil it. As the actress Chiyoko recounts her history, the visual fluidly shifts back and forth between them all sitting in her house talking, the past events coming alive and happening around them (even involving them in a meta fashion at times), and getting bound up in the plotlines of movies she'd starred in. It really is like watching a documentary: the only plot element is her life-long search for the person associated with that key, and everything else is more window dressing that would appeal to someone interested in the subject. It remains attached enough to that mystery to keep it from getting boring, and that visual trick of blending reminiscence with reality kept everything fun. The resolution of that key lets everything end on a quiet note. It's a charming movie, and I enjoyed it more for its construction than its plot, but I'd still recommend it. Rating: good, relevant genres: drama, slice of life, historical.
Mind Game (movie)—a guy named Nishi gets killed while trying to defend a girl he has a crush on (but who is engaged) from a gangster. This leads to him going through a few time loops where he can try to make things turn out different, including living for years inside a giant whale after running from the gangsters, then looping back to the film's beginning, and... yeah. I've met a few people who love this film, but to me it was just random for random's sake. Rating: huh?, relevant genres: random, romance, drama.
Miss Hokusai (movie)—loosely based on an actual historical figure, this movie focuses on the daughter of a famous artist as she struggles to achieve his greatness or find what other path might be open to her. It's more like a collection of semi-connected scenes than an overall narrative, and there's no overarching message to it. Just some scenes to explore her character. Several of them are interesting: the relationship she has with her younger, sickly half-sister, how she works well in her father's art studio but he just always seems like his mind is somewhere else, and one that takes a little more explanation. A fair chunk of the studio's business is erotic art, but customers often feel like her depictions are too cold, so she tries out a prostitute to see if it'll inspire her, but comes to the conclusion she's asexual. It's an interesting set of photographs looking into her life, but there's no compelling narrative. Rating: good, relevant genres: slice of life, historical.
Mon Colle Knights (I don't know how many episodes)—this just came across to me as a generic monster anime, something like Pokemon or Yokai Watch, crossed with "opponent of the day" fighting shows. I only saw a few episodes before losing all interest. Rating: meh, relevant genres: fantasy, adventure.
Monster (74 episodes)—I think this series is hurt by its length. It's a good idea for a series, but it got drawn out so long that it felt gratuitously done in places and made it drag. That's also supported by how simple it is to make a synopsis of the series. A Japanese doctor living in Germany saves the lives of twin children brought to his hospital one day, and years later, the boy turns into a serial killer. His fascination with the doctor leads to him framing him for some of the murders, so the doctor goes on the run while trying to prove his innocence, uncover the boy's complicated past, and outsmart him. Too many places where the chase kept going on and on, it seemed to be for no more purpose than to make the series longer. Maybe the manga came across differently. I still liked it, but it was a bit of a slog getting through it. Rating: good, relevant genres: mystery, thriller, drama.
Seen any of these? Did I convince you to try any of them? I'd like to hear about it in the comments.
Last 10:
vol. 5 here
vol. 6 here
vol. 7 here
vol. 8 here
vol. 9 here
vol. 10 here
vol. 11 here
vol. 12 here
vol. 13 here
vol. 14 here
I haven't seen Metropolis in a veritable eternity. I actually own the DVD, but since the advent on streaming haven't bothered to get something that can play it. Heck, my desktop doesn't even have a disc reader. I remember enjoying the movie, but if I watched it now I might not get the same thing out of it.
I loved Millennium Actress. I've got a 'thing' for Satoshi Kon movies though, so I may be biased. I only saw it once though and haven't had an opportunity to see it a second time. Maybe someday...
Millenium Actress is one of my favorite movies from Satoshi Kon, alongside Paprika. I thought you had reviewed the latter?
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I have a thing for Satoshi Kon projects as well, but I enjoy the aesthetic of them more than the actual story. There's usually something about the plot that feels rushed or glossed over to me. Not so much the case here, but it's a movie not really structured to have a strong plot in the first place. It's like some modern classical music, where I can't say I overtly enjoyed the music itself, but I did enjoy noticing the clever things it did.
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Not quite to "P" in the alphabet yet. But soon!